0.0 t»V. 


U,‘S.- JLe'pt. r| j 

) 66th Congress, I HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. J D ° cu ^ n E 0 NT 
1st Session. | 1 No. 209. 


REPORT ON HOUSE RESOLUTION 225. 


LETTER 

FROM 

THE SECRETARY OF LABOR, 

TRANSMITTING 

REPORT DIRECTED TO BE MADE TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA¬ 
TIVES PURSUANT TO HOUSE RESOLUTION 225. 


August 29, 1919.—Referred to the Committee on Labor and ordered to be printed. 


Department of Labor, 

Office of the Secretary, 

Washington, August 28, 1919. 

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of attested copy 
of House resolution 225, dated August 14, 1919, directing the Secre¬ 
tary of Labor to report forthwith to the House of Representatives 
of the United States of America the following facts: 

(1) Copies of all such instructions mentioned by John B. Dens- 
more as having been received by him during the months of May, June, 
July, August, September, and October, 1918, he having said: 

San Francisco, Calif., November 1, 191S. 

Hon. W. B. Wilson 

Secretary of Labor, Washington, D. C. 

Sir: Pursuant to instructions received from time to time during the past six months, 
T have the honor to report that I have conducted a secret and altogether informal 
inquiry into the Mooney case, and beg leave to submit herewith the results of my 
investigations. 

The only instructions issued to John B. Densmore in connection 
with the Mooney case were oral instructions that he (Mr. Densmore) 
should get any additional information that might be of value in 
securing a full understanding of the case for submission to the 
President and if necessary to the governor, and to utilize the services 
of the immigration inspectors assigned to him for the investigation 
of frauds in immigration cases for that purpose. 







































































2 


REPORT ON HOUSE RESOLUTION 225. 

(2) The names of all persons who, under the direction of any branch of the Depart¬ 
ment of Labor, had anything to do with the investigation of Thomas ,T. Mooney, 
charged with and convicted for heinous crime in California, stating in detail their 
respective activities, the amount of compensation paid them, respectively, and the 
expenses of such investigation itemized in detail during the six months between 
May 1 and November 1, 1918. 

The representatives of the Department of Labor who investigated 
the Mooney case were at the same time cooperating with the Depart¬ 
ment of Justice in securing evidence in other criminal cases. It is 
X not deemed compatible with the public interest to make public the 
names of these persons or to itemize their expenses. The total 
salaries of the inspectors referred to during the period of investiga¬ 
tion amounted to $6,101.68. The total of all other expenses incurred 
by or for them was $1,043.02. 

(3) What connection in behalf of the Department of Labor, if any, since the punish¬ 
ment of said Thomas J. Moouev was commuted to life imprisonment, and since Novem¬ 
ber 1,1918, has any employee of the Department of Labor had with said case of Thomas 
J. Mooney, stating such activities in detail, the expense of same itemized in detail, 
and upon what authority of law, attaching copies of all reports made thereunder to 
the Department of Labor. 

The Department of Labor through its Immigration Bureau is 
directed to deport alien anarchists. Its investigations in these 
cases have developed clues that lead to the Mooney case. It is 
continuing these investigations, and it is not deemed compatible 
with the public interest to disclose at this time its activities in detail, 
to itemize its expenses in detail, or to attach copies of reports there¬ 
under to the Department of Labor. The authority of law is found in 
the act of February 5, 1917, and the act of October 16, 1918. 

(4) What activities, if any, are now being conducted in behalf of Thomas J. Mooney. 

It is not deemed compatible with the public interest to make 
public the present activities of the department that affect the case 
of Thomas J. Mooney. 

(5) Attach copies of vouchers of McPherson, Kelly, and Kilmer for July, 1918, 
covering their trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles, the purpose of such trip and 
expense of same itemized. 

There are no vouchers of McPherson, Kelly, and Kilmer for July, 
1918, covering any trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles. No such 
trip has been authorized by the Department of Labor, nor has any 
expense been incurred in connection with any such trip. There is 
not now and there has not been any McPherson or Kilmer on the 
rolls of the Department of Labor. There is a John A. Kelly and 
there was a T. R. Kelly in the Employment Service of the department 
at San Francisco, a Henry Kelly in the Immigration Service at 
Tucson, Ariz., and a William P. Kelly in the Immigration Service at 
Boston, Mass., none of whom has ever made any trip from San 
Francisco to Los Angeles at the expense of the Department of Labor. 

(6) Attach copy of letter of instructions sent by John B. Densmore to H. L. Cobb 
after Cobb was sent to Texas on propaganda trip for Employment Bureau and expense 
of trip itemized in detail. 

H. L. Cobb was not sent to Texas on a propaganda trip. He was 
sent on official business of the Employment Service. No instructions 
were sent by John B. Densmore to H. L. Cobb after Cobb was sent 
to Texas. The itemized expense account of Mr. Cobb is herewith 
attached. # ; 

o» ofjii, 

SEP 27 



REPORT ON HOUSE RESOLUTION 225. 


3 


N. 

-Q 

(.7) Attach all reports of Gallagher and Martin for their six weeks spent in Philadel- 
o pliia, spring of 1919, investigating F. R. Welsh, with statement of expenses fully 

itemized in detail. 

r rhere have been no “ reports of Gallagher and Martin for their 
six weeks spent in Philadelphia, spring of 1919 , investigating F. R. 
Welsh” received by this department or any of its bureaus or services. 
There is no person by the name of Gallagher employed by the depart¬ 
ment. There is an Albert S. Martin in the Immigration Service at 
El Paso, Tex.; an Alice M. Martin in the Immigration Service at 
Ellis Island, N. Y. ; an Isaac Martin in the Immigration Service at 
Charlotte, N. Y.; and an Arthur S. Martin, clerk, in the department, 
Washington, D. C., none of whom has ever made any investigation 
of F. R. Welsh. The department has never made any investigation 
of F. R. Welsh, and consequently there has been no expense incurred 
for that purpose. 

(8) Attach report of John B. Densmore on Immigration Service investigation at 
San Francisco, with full statement of expense thereof itemized in detail. 

The report of John B. Densmore on Immigration Service investiga¬ 
tion at San Francisco is herewith attached. As this investigation 
was made in cooperation with the Department of Justice, it is not 
deemed compatible with the public interest to state the expenses 
thereof itemized in detail. 

Respectfully submitted. 

W. B. Wilson, 
Secretary of Labor. 

The Speaker of the FTouse of Representatives. 


Itemized statement of expenses of Harvey L. Cobb, May 21 to June 25 , 1919, on trip to 
Texas, via Detroit, paid out of the appropriation War Emergency Employment Service, 
1919. 


Date. 


1919. 
May 26 


26 


26 

27 

28 
29 


30 

31 
31 


June 1 
2 

3 

4 

5 


Character of expenditure. 

Amount. 

Per diem from Mav 27 to June 25, 1919, inclusive, 30 days, at 84. 


Transportation. 


Left Washington, official station, 11.40 a. m.: arrived Detroit 9.30 a. m.; 
railroad fire $17.97|(LE43256); Pullman, Washington to Detroit, 82.80 
(LE 43257). 

Pullman porter fee. 

$0.25 

1.00 

Taxi fare "necessary on account of working in office till 11.16, and 2 
pieces official baggage, typewriter, and data, express to railroad 
station. 

Lunch on train 81, dinner 81, tip 25 cents. 

2.25 

Car fare, Detroit, official business. 

. 10 

Phone O/B 15 cents, checking baggage 2 days. 

.55 

Left Detroit 12.2) a. m.; arrived Dallas 2.10 p. m. 31st; railroad fare 
835.22 (LE43258); Pullman, Detroit to Dallas, 87 (LE43259). 

Porter fee. 

.25 

Checking baggage St. Louis between trains. 

.30 

Porter fee.\. 

.20 

Car fare 20 cents, phone 15 cents, checking baggage 2) cents. 

. 55 

Railroadfare, Dallas to San Antonio, 88.74; arrived 7.30 a. m. (LE43260); 

Pullman, Dallas to San Antonio, 82 (LE46111). 

Pullman porter fee. 

.15 

Car fare 40 cen s ph me 20 cents. 

.60 

Phone 5 cents, car fare 25 cents. 

.30 

Phone and car fare 15 cents. 

. 15 

Car fare 30 cents. 

.30 

Phone and car fare 25 cents. 

.25 

Railroad fare $7.75: Pullman fare $2 (LE46115), left San Antonio 
11.30 p. m.; arrived Galveston 8 a. m. (LE46116). 

Pullman porter fee. 

.25 

Note.— LE46112-3 canceled account instructions to change 
itinerary after ticket bought. 

Car fare 30 cents, phone 15 cents, check baggage 20 cents. 

. 65 

Phone 15 cents, car fare 20 cents. 

.35 


Total. 


8120.00 
195.25 


6 

7 





































4 


REPORT ON HOUSE RESOLUTION 225 


Itemized statement of expenses of Harvey L. Cobb, May 27 to June 25, 1919, on trip to 
Texas, via Detroit, paid out of the appropriation War Emergency Employment Servict, 
1919 —Continued. 


Date. 

• 

Character of expenditure. 

Amount. 

Total. 

1900 

June 8 

Electric car from Galveston to Houston (receipt attached $1.25, plus 
tax 10 cents); reason for taking electric quicker, cheaper, and save 
time. . 

$1.35 


8 

Checking official baggage.... . 

.30 


8 

Car fare 35 cents, phone 10 cents.. . 

.45 


Left Houston 8.15 p. m.; arrived Cleburne 6.45 a. m. (LE46116), rail¬ 
road fare $8.20, Pullman $2 (LE46117). 

Pullman porter fee . . 

.25 


9 

Left Cleburne 6 p. m. arrived Abilene 7 a. m. (LE46118). 

Railroad fare Cleburne to Abilene, $6.80. 

Pullman Fort Worth to Abilene, $1.22 (LE46119). 

Transfer S C. S. F depot to T. P. at Forth Worth .. . 

.50 


10 

Pullman car fee... . 

.25 


Left Abilene 11.30 p. m.; arrived Dallas 10 a.m.; railroad fare, $5.78 
(LE46121). 

Pullman, Abilene to Fort Worth, $1.22 (LE46120). 

Pullman car tip. . 

.25 

• 

12 

Car fare 30 cents, phone 15 cents, check baggage 20 cents. 

.65 


13 

Car fare 20 cents, phone 10 cents.... . 

.30 


14 

Left Dallas9a. m";arrived Waco2.10p. m.;railroadfare,$2.99(LE46122) 
Telephone 15 cents, car fare 40 cents . . 

.55 


If 

16 

Left Waco 4.50 p. m.; arrived Dallas 8.40 p. m.; railroad fare,$2.99 
(LE46123). 

Car fare . . . 

.20 


17 

Left Dallas 11 p.m.; arrived San Antonio7.30a. m.;railroadfare, Dallas 
to San Antonio, $8.75 (LE46125). 

Pullman, $2, Dallas to San Antonio (LE46124). 

Pullman car fee... . 

. 25 


18 

Car fare 40 cents, phone 20 cents. 

.60 


19 

Phone 10 cents, car fare 20 cents. 

.30 


20 

Left San Antonio 7.45; arrived Austin 10.30 a.m.; railroad fare, San An¬ 
tonio to Austin, $2.59 (LE46126). 

Car fare 35 cents. 

. 35 



Checking baggage. 

.30 


20 

Left Austin 11.30 p.m.; arrived Houston 8.17 a.m.; railroad fare, Aus¬ 
tin to Houston, $4.94 (LE46127). 

Pullman, Austin to Houston, $2 (LE46128). 

Pullman car tip. 

. 25 


21 

Car fare 20 cents, phone 15 cents. 

. 35 


22 

23 

Left Houston 8 a. m.; arrived Waco 5.10 p.m.; railroad fare, $5.55 
(LE46129). 

Pullman seat, Houston to Bremen (point of transfer), $0.75 (LE46130). 
Left Waco 1.15 p.m.; arrived Dallas 5 p.m.; railroad fare,$2.99 (LE29371) 
Car fare 20 cents. 

. 20 


24 

Car fare 35 cents, phone 15 cents. 

. 50 


24 

25 

Left Dallas for Official Station 4.15 p. m.; railroad fare, Dallas to 
Washington, $42.90 (LE29372). 

Pullman, Dallas to Memphis, $2.60 (LE29373). 

Pullman, porter tip. 

. 25 


25 

Pullman, Memphis to Washington, $5.50 (LE29374). 

Pullman porter tip.... 

. 25 


26 

Breakfastron train, $1; lunch, $1. 

2.00 


Arrived Washington, D. C., 2 p. m. 

$19.10 





Total. 


334.35 





Note.—A ll the car fare, telephone calls, checking baggage, porter fees, and the one taxi was account 
Government business. 


United States Department of Labor, 

United States Employment Service, 

Washington, May 1, 1919. 
The honorable the Secretary of Labor. 

Sir: I have the honor to make the following report of my investiga¬ 
tion into certain irregularities in the Immigration Service at the port 
of San Francisco, Calif. 

In March, 1917, as the result of the exposure of certain thefts of 
Chinese records from the Immigration Station at Angel Island, you 
directed me to proceed to San Francisco and make a detailed investi¬ 
gation into the matter, with a view to discovering the guilty parties 











































REPORT ON HOUSE RESOLUTION 225. 5 

and learning as much as possible about the extent of their operations 
and methods of work. My instructions were to submit such recom¬ 
mendations as would result in a complete administrative clean-up of 
the service at this station, which, on account of numerous petty 
intrigues and frequent charges of graft among the employees had 
been a source of considerable annoyance and embarrassment to the 
department for a number of years. 

A brief survey of the situation as it existed when I arrived in San 
Francisco convinced me that a thorough investigation would be 
required in order to uncover the grafters, who seemed to be numerous 
and well intrenched. It is necessary at this point to sketch in outline 
the developments which had occurred up to this time. 

On December 8, 1916, a clerk by the name of McFarland had been 
detected in removing Chinese records from the files without apparent 
justification, and upon being questioned by his superior officers 
frankly admitted his guilt. His statement was not only an admission 
of his own culpability, but also involved two other employees, a 
stenographer by the name of Armstrong and a messenger by the name 
of Kaphan. In addition to these, the detected culprit also named 
two ex-employees, Hilkemeyer and Fergusson, who had formerly 
worked at the station in capacities which gave them access to the 
Chinese files and records. 

Through some oversight on the part of the officials of the station, 
McFarland’s confession was not put into writing at the time. The 
result is that he subsequently deified that he had ever confessed at 
all; meanwhile he absented himself from his official duties. Matters 
thus drifted along for several days until, on December 12, there was 
a new development, which caused the belief that possibly still others 
were involved. This was the mysterious return to the station of four 
Chinese records, which properly belonged in the files and which had 
evidently been surreptitiously and illegally removed therefrom. 

This new development was taken as an indication that McFarland 
had warned this fellow conspirators, and that some of the latter were 
now trying to cover up their tracks by replacing in the files all pur¬ 
loined records then in their possession. The officials at the station, 
realizing the seriousness of the situation and believing that no time 
should be lost, immediatelv secured statements from Armstrong and 
Kaphan with a view to throwing further light on the subject. 

Armstrong made a partial confession, involving McFarland, Hilke- 
meyer, Fergusson, Kaphan, and others. According to his story, there 
had been carried on for some time a systematic traffic in official 
Chinese records, which had been abstracted from the files by the 
conspirators, who then either altered or destroyed them to suit the 
requirements of applicants attempting to gain illegal entry into the 
United States. Armstrong intimated that large sums of money had 
changed hands as a result of these transactions. 

Despite Armstrong’s confession, corroborating and elaborating the 
previous one of McFarland’s, Kaphan stoutly maintained his entire 
innocence of any wrongdoing. His guilt, it may here be remarked, 
was subsequently demonstrated in court, as will appear in the sequel. 

As the officials of the station looked further into the matter they 
became convinced of the necessity of a thorough investigation, with 
a view to rounding up the guilty parties and making a complete 
expose of their methods—all this in order to purge the service of 


6 


REPORT ON HOUSE RESOLUTION 225. 


undesirables and safeguard it from similar abuses in the future. A 
number of other employees of the force were interviewed, and the 
more searching the inquiry became the more evidence developed that 
the theft and manipulation of records had been carried on extensively. 
Finally, under date of February 26, 1917, the commissioner recom¬ 
mended “that definite action be taken at once to put an end to the 
present intolerable condition.” It was in response to this urgent 
request of the commissoner’s that you directed me to proceed to 
San Francisco and look into the situation. 

I arrived in San Francisco in March, 1917, and hadpiot been long 
on the ground before I decided that the usual type ol departmental 
investigation, with formal hearings of a semipublic character, would 
accomplish little good. There had been such inquiries at this station 
before, and for the most part they had been in vain. What seemed 
necessary in order most effectively to uncover the ring of grafters 
was a probe conducted in the most secret way possible; without the 
knowledge of even the officials of the service at this port. I felt 
that the seriousness of the situation left me no choice in the matter; 
in other words, that it was incumbent upon me to adopt whatever 
form of strategy was best calculated to produce results. 

Having decided upon a secret probe, it became necessary, in fur¬ 
therance of my plan, to select several competent operatives to assist 
in the work—preferably men who were unknown to any of the 
employees in the service at San Francisco. After some little delay 
I managed to secure four—one from the East, one from Seattle, 
another from San Francisco (though unknown in immigration 
circles), and fourth, an intelligent young Chinese of demonstrated 
probity and courage, whose place of residence must not be dis¬ 
closed. The identity of these four men, as well as the character of 
the confidential work upon which they were engaged, remained 
secret throughout the entire course of operations. 

While these men worked quietly and under cover, I personally 
paid open daily visits to the immigration station at Angel Island, 
where I conducted numerous hearings, studied the personnel and 
methods of work at first hand, and in other ways investigated such 
phases of the case as could be looked into without embarrassment to 
the special lines of inquiry along which my operatives were working. 
By thus centering upon myself the attention of the principal crooks, 
I succeeded to a large extent in disguising the real magnitude of the 
investigation and in lulling to sleep the suspicions of the various 
employees and others who were even then being held under close 
surveillance by the men working under me. 

It is not the purpose of this report to detail the various expedients 
adopted in order to run down the crooks and break up this notorious 
ring of grafters. It will suffice to say that months of hard work 
were required; that my operatives finally succeeded in establishing 
the most confidential relations with some of the most celebrated 
Chinese manipulators and smugglers; and that from these Chinese 
full particulars of their illegal methods were obtained, as well as 
the details of their crooked dealings with various dishonest members 
of the official force of the Immigration Service. This delicate work 
required time, care, and a large degree of patience. At the same 
time it was being carried on, I had under close observation some of 
the suspected employees—inspectors, interpreters, clerks, and 


REPORT ON PIOUSE RESOLUTION 225. 


7 


others—as well as some of the outside parties who were acting' as 
attorneys, brokers, professional witnesses, steerers, and go-betweens. 

It will be seen from all this that several separate and well-defined 
lines of inquiry were thus being carried on simultaneously—first, 
my own open investigation at the immigration station, consisting 
chiefly of miscellaneous hearings and intimate daily study of the 
official practices then in vogue; second, that phase of the operation 
growing out of the contact established by my men with various 
Chinese smugglers and manipulators; and, third, the systematized 
surveillance maintained at all times over the principal white sus¬ 
pects, both inside and out of the service. My small force, though 
augmented from time to time by additional helpers, was kept busy 
day and night. It goes without saying that I was pestered by the 
usual swarm of informants, both American and Chinese, full of 
false clues and imaginary grievances. These people caused me con¬ 
siderable annoyance, as did also the operatives of a local detective 
agency which had been retained by some of the crooks to spy on my 
movements and endeavor to discredit the investigation by involving 
me in some sort of compromising frame-up. 

After working for some wneks along the lines indicated, I began at 
last to gain a true insight into the scope and character of the fraudu¬ 
lent operations which had been carried on at this station for so long 
a time. These operations, of whatever nature, fall principally 
under two general classifications; first, fraud in connection with the 
manipulation of records, and, second, fraud in connection with the 
examination of applicants. All the graft in connection with Chinese 
immigration cases centers around one or the other of these two 
classifications. 

The manipulation of records embraces a number of separate 
offenses, such as stealing from the files, the removal of records from 
the station, the selling of information obtained from the records, 
mutilating or destroying official data, manufacturing entirely new 
records on the basis of information illegally secured from the Govern¬ 
ment archives, the substitution of photographs, so that the bogus 
claimant may successfully pose as the original owner of the records, 
and counterfeiting notarial and other seals and stamps. 

Fraud in connection with examinations manifests itself in the 
employment of fake witnesses and affidavits; the surreptitious 
coaching of applicants by means of letters secretly delivered to 
them in the detention quarters of the immigration station; purposely 
easy examinations on the part of the inspectors; underhanded 
assistance rendered applicants, during the course of examinations, 
by the official Chinese interpreters, changing of notes on the part of 
stenographers who report the hearings, reconciling discrepancies in 
testimony by the inspectors who conduct the examinations; in short, 
by general collusion and dishonesty on the part of the applicants, 
their friends, relatives, and attorneys, aided and abetted by un¬ 
scrupulous employees of the Government. 

Instances of all the above dishonest practices were gradually 
uncovered as the investigation progressed, and p -ompt steps were 
taken to rid the service of employees whose guilt was established 
beyond all reasonable doubt. In my numerous recommendations to 
the department, covering these necessary changes in personnel, I 
in each case set forth in considerable detail the reasons which prompted 


8 


REPORT ON HOUSE RESOLUTION 225. 


my action; these are far too voluminous to incorporate in this final 
summary, which aims at generalities, rather than at confusing array 
of relatively unimportant minutiae. The files of the department 
will show that in all cases where the offending employee was subject 
to the rules pertaining to the classified civil service he was furnished 
with specific written charges and given a chance to reply thereto. 
The following list comprises the employees who were affected: 


Name. 

Designation. 

Action taken 

William H. Gassaway. 

Inspector. 

Removed. 

Clarence E. Ebey. 

_;do. 

Do. 

J. H. McCall..... 

.do. 

Do. 

William W. Thiess. 

_do. 

Do. 

W. H. Heitmann. 

_do. 

Do. 

W. H. Clendenin. 

.do. 

Resigned. 

Albert W. Long. 

_do. 

Removed. 

Edward Park. 

Interpreter. 

Do. 

Julius S. McClymont. 

_do. 

Do. 

John Olvera. 

.do. 

Do. 

Joseph Gubbins. 

.do. 

Do. 

A. M. Alves. 

.... do. 

Do. 

W. W. Thacher. 

_do. 

Do. 

Robert Lym. 

... .do. 

Resigned. 

Presley A. McFarland. 

Clerk. 

Removed. 

Arthur Hyman. 

.... do. 

Transferred. 

Theodore Kaphan. 

Watchman. 

Removed. 

Harry A. Akers. 

.do. 

Do. 

Rolub W. Hendricks. 

Laboror. 

Disciplined. 




In addition to the above employees, evidence was also secured 
against a number of outside parties who were found to be invloved, 
among them the following: 

O. P. Stidger, an attorney practicing in Chinese cases. 

Henry C. Kennah, Stidger’s partner, paymaster in the firm’s 
bribery cases. 

H. Embert Lee, also an attorney in Chinese cases; formerly in the 
service. 

Agathon L. Hilkemeyer, former employee and one of the leaders in 
the thefts from the record room at Angel Island. 

Robert T. Fergusson, former employee; subsequently an important 
witness for the Government. 

Fong Get, leading Chinese photographer, who made hundreds of fake 
photographs for use in falsifying records. 

E. L. Mills, friend of Hilkemeyer s and mechanical expert, who 
counterfeited seals and aged photographs. 

Robert Riley, notary public and former immigration employee. 

Soo Hoo Yee Wai, notorious steerer and go-between for the attor¬ 
neys Stidger and Kennah. 

Jung Bing Hee, Chinese runner and go-between. 

Lee You, clansman and partner of Lee U. Ong. 

Lee U. Ong, one of the most ingenious and enterprising smugglers 
and manipulators. 

Lee Ming, crooked Chinese broker, caught in act of passing bribe 
to Inspector Heitmann. 

Whoe Tong, ex-interpreter of the Immigration Service, manipulator 
of crooked cases. 

Horn Wing, brother-in-law of Lee U. Ong; professional witness 
in bogus Chinese cases. 

Lee Tin, professional witness. 



















































REPORT ON HOUSE RESOLUTION 225. 


9 


lee Poy, steerer for Stidger & Kennah; fixer of cases for Chinese 
laborers. 

L ; D. Sing, prominent Chinese merchant and smuggler. 

Wong Ah Wong, notorious manipulator of crooked cases; merchant. 

Low Fat Yuen, steerer and go-between. 

W oo Wai, fixer of crooked cases. 

Lim Hing, steerer and fixer. 

Lee Fook, one of Lee U. Ong’s partners; dealer in forged and 
altered records. 

There were others, of course, but these were the principal ones. 
They were all trying in one way or another to circumvent and nullify 
the various provisions of the Chinese exclusion act, and they did a 
thriving business, involving in the aggregate enormous sums of 
money. It is not to be understood that they all worked together; 
on the other hand, there were several combinations, some of them 
acting independently, but most of them controlled by the corrupt 
law firm of Stidger & Kennah. 

This firm had for years enjoyed by far the largest part of all the 
Chinese business coming up before the San Francisco immigration 
station. They got the business because they won their cases; and 
they won their cases because they controlled some of the best ex¬ 
amining inspectors in the Immigration Service—such men, for 
instance, as Inspectors Heitmann, McCall, Gassaway, Ebey, and 
Thiess. With these inspectors handling the firm’s business there 
was little danger of losing a case. 

Not only did this firm control the inspectors named, but they also 
had as their agents some of the other employees of the immigration 
station, through whose instrumentality they were enabled to secure 
official files and confidential data from the record room. In my 
report to the department, dated July 24, 1917, concerning the cor¬ 
rupt activities of this firm, I made use of the following language: 

These men stand guilty, individually and as a firm of attorneys, of the most fraudu¬ 
lent practices, the entire record going to prove that in the conduct of their business 
they are brazenly and criminally unscrupulous, and that, through bribery and per¬ 
jury, they are directly responsible for the corrupt methods so long prevalent at this 
station. 

On the strength of this report, which went into the case of these 
crooked attorneys quite exhaustively, the notorious firm of Stidger 
& Kennah, long the center and inspiration of all the bribery and graft 
in Chinese circles at the port of San Francisco, was formally dis¬ 
barred by the department from further practice before the Immi¬ 
gration Service. I consider this the most important single develop¬ 
ment of the entire investigation, for with the fall of these wholesale 
corruptionists dismay and consternation seized upon the lesser fry, 
and the props everywhere began to drop from under the established 
system of graft which had grown up through the years. 

Early in the investigation I had been directed by the department 
to confine my efforts to an administrative clean-up of the Immigra¬ 
tion Service at the port of San Francisco, and it was upon this 
understanding that the operation had been conducted throughout. 
In order to complete the record in so far as this report is concerned, 



10 


REPORT ON HOUSE RESOLUTION 225. 


I insert here the department’s telegram transmitting these instruc- 
tions * 

Washington, D. C., April 20, 1917. 

J. B. Densmore, 

Cartwright Hotel, San Francisco, Calif. 

Secretary directs that you complete investigation in such manner as simply to 
permit the taking of such administrative measure as the situation at Angel Island 
requires, concerning employees of Immigration Service, and that you proceed no 
further with investigation of outside parties. 

Hampton, 

Acting Commissioner General of Immigration. 

These instructions had naturally restricted my activities to a very 
marked degee; the result being that the few outside parties who had 
been reached by the investigation were those who, like Stidger & 
Kennah, had maintained such intimate relations with the dishonest 
employees that they could not possibly be ignored. The depart¬ 
ment’s obvious purpose, at the time the above dispatch was written, 
was to correct an intolerable condition in its own service solely; it 
conceivably had neither the time, inclination, nor authority in law 
to clean up the entire community. 

This attitude was perfectly right and proper at the time and as 
long as the wrongdoing seemed to be confined to some three or four 
underpaid clerks; but as the situation developed and the scandal 
attained larger and larger proportions I plainly perceived that 
something besides an administrative house cleaning would be in 
order if full justice were to be meted out to the principal offenders. 
By July I had established the guilt of nearly a score of employees, 
and the trails which led from these to other crooks outside the service 
were practically innumerable. The amount of publicity evoked by 
the expose had caused a very general feeling that the guilty should 
be punished to the fullest extent of the law—particularly the “ higher- 
ups” who had profited most through these illegal and nefarious 
practices. 

These and similar considerations prompted me on July 21 to lay 
the whole matter once more before the department with a request 
for further instructions as to my future course of procedure. I 
pointed out the enormous local interest which the scandal had aroused, 
as well as the great stir and criticism which would probably be 
forthcoming if the department adhered to its original plan and 
confined its corrective measures simply to a readjustment of the 
personnel of the immigration station. A failure to prosecute the 
guilty, or at least to present the entire matter to the Federal grand 
jury, would be utterly misconstrued by those not thoroughly con¬ 
versant with the facts. Charges of playing politics and white¬ 
washing would certainly be made; there would be endless explana¬ 
tions and argument, in which the department’s prestige would suffer 
and its usefulness become impaired; while the ensuing controversy 
might even in time eclipse in unsavoriness the original scandal. 
As above stated, I put all this up to the department, and in reply 
received the following telegram from the secretary: 

Washington, IX 0., 

July 26, 1918. 

J. B. De^more, 

Cartwright Hotel, San Francisco, Calif .: 

Answering your letter 21st, report entire matter to United States attorney, obtain 
his assistance, and assist him in every way possible. 


Wilson. 


REPORT ON HOUSE RESOLUTION 225. 


11 


I spent the remainder of my stay in San Francisco cooperating 
with the United States attorney’s office in preparing the cases for 
the grand jury and in seeing that they were properly presented 

3^ t Tnei e were a number of difficulties to be over¬ 
come. For one thing, much of the information secured against the 
dishonest employees, through conclusive evidence of guilt in so far 
as the department’s requirements were concerned, was of such a 
confidential nature that it could not be used in court without vast 
embarrassment to the Department of Justice, thus.precluding utterly 
the possibility of bringing to trial some of the most flagrant cases. 

Another handicap was the disappearance of many potential wit¬ 
nesses, some of whom fled the country entirely; others burying them¬ 
selves so effectually that considerable trouble was experienced in 
tracing and apprehending them. The crooked law firm of Stidger & 
Kennah was directly responsible for a number of these disappearances, 
having engineered and financed them, according to the subsequent 
testimony of McFarland, who was arrested while working under an 
assumed name at Cosmopolis, Wash.; of Fergusson, who was picked 
up after a long trip East while secretly visiting his attorney; and 
of Hilkemeyer, who was overpowered and disarmed after a running 
gun fight on a ranch in Nevada. These men all testified that their 
absence from San Francisco had been directed and paid for by Stidger 
& Kennah, their erstwhile partners in crime. 

Troubles such as these were to be expected and were discounted 
in advance. In another and totally unlooked for direction, however, 
I encountered a complication that proved well-nigh ruinous. I refer 
to the despicable double-dealing and rank treachery of the assistant 
United States attorney who was handling my cases before the grand 
jury—Mr. Caspar Ornbaum, a crony of Stidger’s and an unscrupulous 
up-country lawyer, who placed the personal interests of his grafter 
friend above any considerations of duty, honor, or public good. 
Ornbaum’s crooked activities in behalf of Stidger were carried on with 
such finesse that it was some time before I came to a full realization 
of what this unfaithful public servant was working to accomplish; 
indeed, it was not until the Federal grand jury had actually refused 
to indict Stidger (Ornbaum having handled the case before them), 
that my latent suspicions became fully aroused. I was debating 
what course I should pursue when I was approached by one of the 
grand jurors, a jeweler by the name of Barbier, who informed me that 
he had resigned from that body in disgust, on account of persistent 
efforts which had been put forth to influence the jury in behalf of 
Stidger. At the same time my operatives furnished me with proof 
that Ornbaum was keeping the Stidger gang closely informed of 
every development in the situation. 

Indignant and disheartened at this treachery within the Govern¬ 
ment’s own forces, I immediately had Ornbaum haled before the 
United States attorney, in whose presence I denounced him as a 
crook and declined to have anything further to do with the immigra¬ 
tion cases unless he was first removed from all participation therein. 
The United States attorney took the cases in his own hands from that 
time on. He re-presented Stidger’s case to the grand jury, with the 
result that Stidger was promptly indicted. It goes without saying 
that Ornbaum was relieved from all further connection with the cases. 
Fie had been working on them for some time, however, and had done 
more damage than I at first thought, as will appear in the sequel. 


12 


REPORT ON HOUSE RESOLUTION 225. 


In spite of these various difficulties I finally succeeded in bringing 
the cases of a number of the grafters before the grand jury. Under 
authority of the Attorney General, dated October 10, 1917, I had 
been empowered as an officer of the Department of Justice (I then 
held the position of solicitor under that department, assigned to the 
Department of Labor) to conduct grand jury proceedings in connec¬ 
tion with my investigation, and this authority expedited matters 
considerably. True bills were finally returned against all the indi¬ 
viduals whose cases were presented, as follows: 

Clarence E. Ebey, former inspector, Immigration Service. 

Julius S. McClymont, former interpreter, Immigration Service. 

Robert T. Fergusson, former stenographer, Immigration Service. 

A. L. Hilkemeyer, former clerk, Immigration Service. 

Presley A. McFarland, former clerk, Immigration Service. 

Theodore Kapham, former messenger, Immigration Service. 

Harry A. Akers, former watchman, Immigration Service. 

Rolub W. Hendricks, laborer, Immigration Service. 

Henry C. Kennah, attorney. 

O. P. Stidger, attorney. 

H. Embert Lee, attorney. 

Robert Riley, notary public. 

E. L. Mills, mechanic. 

Lee IT. Ong, Chinese smuggler. 

Lee You, Chinese smuggler. 

Soo Hoo Y ee Wai, Chinese steerer. 

Wong a Wong, Chinese merchant and fixer. 

Horn Wing, Chinese professional fake witness. 

Owing to a crowded court calendar the cases were not reached until 
a year later, when they came up for trial before Federal Judge M. T. 
Dooling. In the meantime Kennah, Stidger’s partner and perhaps 
the chief crook of the entire gang, had died; Lee You was supposed to 
be hopelessly insane; and Soo Hoo Yee Wai, one of the most important 
Chinese defendants, had fled to Mexico. These things placed the 
Government at considerable disadvantage; nor were they the only 
handicaps under which the prosecution labored. Early in the trials 
it developed that some of the indictments which had been prepared 
by Ornbaum, including Stidger’s, were so drawn as to preclude the 
admission, under a ruling of the court, of any testimony outside a 
very restricted period, thus making it utterly impossible to introduce 
in evidence the full strength and purport of the Government’s case 
against some of the defendants. 

In addition to all this it became a matter of common knowledge 
that Hilkemeyer, one of the witnesses on whom I was chiefly relying 
to prove essential matters of fact in the case of Stidger and others, 
had been endeavoring to sell out to the crooks, thus discrediting 
himself as a witness and making it useless to think of putting him 
on the stand. With the assistance of operatives from the United 
States attorney’s office Hilkemeyer was finally trapped by means of 
a dictograph and caught in the very act of selling out for $4,500, 
paid over to him in marked bills. All hope of convicting Stidger 
and some of the other defendants at once vanished. 

I desire to emphasize the fact that it was only because of the 
obvious defects in the indictments drawn by Ornbaum, coupled with 
this defection of one of the Government’s principal witnesses, that 
the United States attorney reluctantly requested the dismissing of 


REPORT ON HOUSE RESOLUTION 225. 


13 


several of the indictments, including Stidger’s. Of the other de¬ 
fendants, the majority were found guilty and sentenced to various 
terms in jail or penitentiary, the complete record standing as follows: 

Fergusson, guilty. 

Hilkemeyer, guilty. 

McFarland, guilty. 

Kaphan, guilty. 

Akers, guilty. 

Hendricks, guilty. 

Lee Ong, guilty. 

Hong Wing, jury disagreed. 

Ebey, jury disagreed. 

Mills, jury disagreed. 

Wong A. Wong, not guilty. 

McClymont, indictment dismissed. 

Stidger, indictment dismissed. 

Riley, indictment dismissed. 

H. E. Lee, indictment dismissed. 

Kennah, as above stated, was dead; Lee You, unable to be present; 
and Soo Hoo Yee Wai had fled the jurisdiction of the court. 

This ended the investigation so far as the courts were concerned. 
Considering the unusual difficulties under which the prosecution 
labored it is believed the results achieved were as gratifying as they 
were salutary. The example made of those who had been convicted 
served as a warning to prospective grafters, both American and 
Chinese, that the laws could not be broken with impunity, while all 
charges of whitewashing and political logrolling were silenced forever. 

My study of the methods of work and personnel of the immigration 
station had convinced me that some radical changes could profitably 
be made in the system of conducting the public business that would 
result in a very material lessening of the chances of wrongdoing on 
the part of the employees. With this idea in view, I recommended to 
the department a somewhat comprehensive series of changes, under 
the operation of which it was to be hoped the Government’s business 
would be expedited and its interests safeguarded in the future. 
These changes, affecting the entire Immigration Service at the port 
of San Francisco, were subsequently put into effect with beneficial 
results. It is believed that it is not too soon to say that the investi¬ 
gation accomplished in all respects what it set out to do, namely, to 
eradicate graft and place the whole immigration establishment at the 
port of San Francisco on a firm basis of honesty and efficiency. 

I would be remiss in a sense of gratitude if I failed, before closing 
this final synopsis of operations, to acknowledge my thanks to Com¬ 
missioner Edward White, Assistant Commissioner W. T. Boyce, Chief 
Law Officer W. H. Wilkinson, Inspector in Charge Lorensen, and other 
loyal officers and employees of the station who rendered invaluable 
assistance throughout the trying times that I was attempting to bring 
order out of a situation that occasionally seemed closely akin to de¬ 
moralization. The cooperation of these gentlemen lessened my own 
labors and contributed materially to the success of the investigation. 

Respectfully, 

J. B. Densmore, 
Director General of Employment, 







0 019 300 969,4 


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